The Power of Suggestion and Hypnosis

Part of the services that I provide, is giving suggestions to clients whether in or out of the hypnotic state.  The suggestions that I give to a client are not suggestions that actually come from me, but rather from the client. The client comes into my office and pays me to make the required suggestions needed, helping them to achieve success, whether that is to stop smoking or to increase confidence.

We all give suggestions:

But did you know that we are all giving each other ‘suggestions’ that influence each other every day of our lives? For example if you have ever gone on a holiday and come back and told a friend that it was an “amazing place to visit”, your friend may go on the same holiday sometime in the future. This is called a positive suggestion. On the other hand, if you came back from the holiday and said to your friend that the holiday “was a nightmare”; then would that friend go to that place? Probably not, right? Because you have just given them a negative suggestion! Also, if you have ever encouraged a friend or family member that they “will really do well in that exam” then congratulations you may have influenced a positive outcome. Oppositely if you said something like “that exam is really hard, I don’t envy you” …well…you are hardly filling the receiver of that message with confidence. 

Effective suggestions:

When giving suggestions, it is important to tell people what you want rather than what you don’t want. Let’s say your children are playing outside in the middle of the road and you are concerned, so you shout at them “Don’t play on the road”. Unfortunately if you looked outside ten minutes later you would probably find the children playing on the road, the very thing they were told not to do. This is because when the mind processes the information it doesn’t pick up the word ‘Don’t”, so they would have heard “Play on the road”. It would have been much more effective to say “Have fun playing in the garden”. 

Direct and Indirect Suggestions:

Direct suggestions are suggestions that are delivered in such a way that there is no chance of it being misunderstood. “You are going have a great holiday”. An indirect suggestion is a suggestion delivered with an implied meaning. Delivering indirect suggestions in an effective manner can eliminate the possibility of resistance to a suggestion. For example “I went on that holiday before, I had a fantastic time”.   

Big businesses use indirect suggestion all the time. An advertisement with a beautiful woman sitting on the bonnet of a car might suggest that: drive this car - have this woman. Maybe that is an obvious one, but corporations like MacDonalds use ‘indirect suggestion’ in a more subtle way, whether it is with ‘Clowns’ or ‘Happy Meals’.

First Baby:

My wife is expecting our first baby soon! Exciting times, so I have been touching up on some effective suggestions for childbirth. For example if the well intentioned mid wife says “Are you in much pain?” or “You don’t look uncomfortable yet!” or “How bad are your contractions?”, it is best to rephrase such potentially negative suggestions to “How comfortable are you?” or “We’re going to help you increase your comfort”. The word ‘pain’ creates and supports negative responses. Re-framing-Changing the word ‘pain’ to ‘comfort’ helps to deter negative automatic reactions.

I always advise clients that if they follow my instructions and accept my suggestions they will experience success. The subconscious mind is like a sponge and once the suggestions are accepted wonderful positive changes will occur, whether it is to happily live the non smoking life or establish a new found confidence. 

For Information on the services I provide please visit www.waterford-hypnosis.com